Evergreen Marine joins CKYH alliance

SHIPPING TOGETHER:With Taiwan’s biggest shipper by fleet size as a member, CKYH will hold 26% of routes to Europe, but an upcoming rival collective is to command 45%

By Amy Su / Staff reporter

Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) yesterday announced that it has joined the CKYH Alliance in a bid to optimize its service lines from Asia to northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

The alliance will be renamed the “CKYHE Alliance” to incorporate the name of Taiwan’s largest container shipper in terms of fleet size.

“The cooperation will help optimize all the members’ efficiency, as well as enhance the quality of their services in terms of network coverage,” Evergreen Marine said in a statement.

The original alliance, formed in March 2002, comprised Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co (中遠集團) of China, Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd — known as the “K” Line — and Hanjin Shipping Co of South Korea.

Evergreen Marine’s move follows a plan announced by the world’s three-largest ocean carriers — Denmark’s Maersk Line, Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Co and France-based CMA CGM SA — to form an alliance called P3 in the second quarter.

Evergreen Marine has held individual cooperative arrangements with member carriers at the CKYH Alliance since 2012 to improve price stability and control transport capacity more efficiently in view of the continuous uncertainties in the global economy.

The lines intend to formally launch the CKYHE Alliance on March 1, subject to their compliance with the relevant regulations.

In mid-April, the CKYHE Alliance plans to commence operations on six joint services operating between Asia and northern Europe, as well as initiate services on four loops in the route between Asia and the Mediterranean.

With Evergreen Marine in its ranks, the CKYHE Alliance will command 26 percent of the routes to Europe, but that is still far less than the 45 percent that is to be controlled by P3.

The establishment of the CKYHE Alliance may see the global container shipping sector dominated by a “Big Three” of cooperatives.